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Rev. Wirgau is the senior pastor of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church and School (LCMS). He also serves on the board of the Saint Philip Lutheran Mission Society (SPLMS), our faithful donors from the USA. You can support the work of the SPLMS here. Rev. Wirgau taught Christian Dogmatics, using the book “Saving Truth” by Kurt Marquart as basis.

It was a great privilege having these two guest lecturers teaching our students and spending time with our lecturing staff. We were all blessed by their presence. As LTS, we thank them for coming to our seminary, and towards their role in training faithful confessional Lutheran pastors at our seminary. May God continue to bless the work they are doing.

Below are two more photos. On one, the LTS lecturing staff is having a coffee break with our guests outside in the sun, as it is winter in South Africa now. On the other present, student Daniel Wowa presented small gifts to our guests at the closing braai.

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The intensive courses give LTS students the opportunity to learn from experienced international lecturers. We are grateful for this privilege of having Prof. Pless and Dr. Corzine at LTS, and thank all who made this trip possible.

On the photo, front, from left to right: Dr Corzine, Dr Pless, Rev Hanfato. Back: Dr Hiestermann, Mr Schütze

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My colleague, Dr. John Nordling and I travelled together to Johannesburg, South Africa on May 20-21, 2023 to teach two-week courses.

It was a privilege to return to LTS to teach an intensive term course on “The Pastor’s Devotional Life” for 23 students plus several pastors who audited the course. The course sought to help students discover the importance of the pastor’s own spiritual life in God’s Word and prayer as essential for faithful ministry. Among the topics covered in the lectures were:

• Prayer in the NT;
• “Prayer: Pre-Reformation to the Present” (K. Korby)
• Contemporary Spirituality vs Lutheran Faith
• Luther’s Oratio, Meditatio, and Tentatio
• “The Theology as Askesis” (O. Bayer)
• “Twenty Questions on the Relevance of Luther for Today” (O. Bayer)
• “Acedia” (St. Pietsch)
• “How the Pastor Cares for his own Soul” (B. Giertz)
• Praying the Psalms
• Praying Luther’s Small Catechism

In addition to teaching three hours each day, I preached for Matins on May 23 (John 17:1-11) and on May 30 (John 7:35-37). I also was the preacher on Pentecost Sunday at the English Lutheran Congregation of Acadia. On Pentecost afternoon, I led the youth group of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Pretoria in a study of “The Small Catechism as a Prayer Book.”

Due to the generosity of donors in the USA, I was able to bring 20 more copies of Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications for students and pastors. Now all of our current students have a personal copy of this book for use in classes and beyond. I was also able to bring 15 copies of Lutheran Preaching? Law and Gospel Proclamation Today for senior students. 1517 generously provided a number of their most recent publications for the library as well as some copies for individual students. Students who received What is Christianity? By Francis Pieper were especially appreciative of this brief monograph from 1517. I hope to bring copies for all students when I return in February.

While at the seminary, I had the opportunity to meet with interim Bishop David Tswaedi of St. Peter’s Confessional Lutheran Church and Bishop Davidson Wawo of Malawi who were visiting the LTS campus.

As is our custom, we concluded the two weeks with a braai. This time we were especially pleased to welcome to the braai, Pastor Jeff Skopak (Grace Lutheran Church, Jacksonville, FL) and pastoral colleagues from SELK, FELSISA, and LCSA as they were beginning a workshop on leadership.

Thanks to Dr. Heinz Hiestermann, Rev. Mintesinot Birru, other LTS staff members, and students who made the visit enjoyable. God willing it, I look forward to returning to LTS to teach again in February, 2024.

-John T. Pless

June 5, 2023

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Last night, Mr. Minesinot Birru graciously invited our guest lecturers and academic staff to the local Ethiopian restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderful meal.

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Dr. John G. Nordling, CTS Fort Wayne

For service at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Pretoria, South Africa

8 – 17 April 2019

I had the privilege of teaching 1 Peter (the entire letter) for nearly two weeks (8 – 17 April 2019) at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Pretoria, South Africa.  Instruction consisted of 3 hours per morning, with time out for Chapel at 10:00 – 10:30 a.m.  Another instructor, Dr. Elliott Sithole (a LCSA pastor), taught a second three-hour class (Jeremiah) to the same students in the afternoon.  This time I taught 17 students in toto, from the following African nations: Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Congo, Zambia, and Sudan.  Due to financial and accreditation challenges, there were again no incoming (year 1) students—the second year in a row this has happened; hence, most of the students were years 3 and 4 (there were no deaconess students).  The Greek of 1 Peter is extremely challenging, as anyone knows who can read the Greek NT; hence, I projected the Greek text onto a wall with an LED projector and worked through the entirety of 1 Peter textually and exegetically.  Another difficulty with the letter is that the Greek sentences are very long and involved (periodic style) and there are many “echoes” (i.e., allusions) to earlier scriptural texts—either to the Septuagint (Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah), or to Matthew’s gospel (the writer of 1 Peter claims to be a “witness of the sufferings of Christ,” 1 Pet 5:1).  I had not taught 1 Peter before, and really felt that this text might be beyond the ability of the students.  Quite to my surprise, however, the students “took” to the letter and grew therein.  There were many questions about issues the letter takes up—and a kind of African fascination in intertextuality (many of the students are quite accustomed to African proverbs, of which there are many).  Hence, I feel that the class was an unexpected success and grounded them in such Petrine themes as purity/holiness, the sufferings of Christ, the sufferings of being a Christian, the grace of God, joy, the work of the Spirit in Word and Sacrament, the church as the new people of God, trust of God in daily circumstances, and the office of the holy ministry.  I gave 7 daily quizzes, had a two-page 1 Peter Assignment Sheet for them to complete during the one weekend I was there, and a final exam to write on the last day of the class.  Deb Wolf, manager of the CTSFW Bookstore, got me a good deal on a very fine exegetical commentary geared to the needs of these students—namely, Wayne A. Grudem, 1 Peter (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1988).  My budget permitted me to buy this commentary for all 17 of the students, and I often resorted to using it in class when I ran out of my own things to say.

Here are the assignments I expected from each student in the 1 Peter class:

7 quizzes         (approx. 1 quiz per day)                               50%

Assignment Sheet on Grudem (due over the weekend)      20%

Class participation (attendance, questions)                         10%

Final Exam                                                                             20%

Total                                                                                      100 pts possible

In addition to teaching the two week intensive Rector Rev. Carlos Winterle requested my preaching at Chapel during the 10:00 a.m. services on 11 and 16 April.  The first Sunday (17 April) I worshipped at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, just two blocks from the seminary on Arcadia Street (Rev. Martin Paul), and the second Sunday (14 April) I worshipped at the Lutheran congregation that assembles at the seminary Chapel (Rev. Nathan Nthambo).  My time in South Africa concluded greater travels to Sweden (20-28 February) and Nigeria (4 March – 5 April); so I have been gone for 8 weeks (2 months!), which is a long time to be away from home.  This time around I lived with Professor Sithole in renovated lodging on the seminary campus, taking breakfast and lunch prepared for me and the students by Mrs. Emily Ngubeni, whose husband Aaron is the seminary driver who brings visitors to and from the airport.  Dr. Karl Boehmer’s family had me over for dinner on Sunday 7 April, and Dr. Carlos Winterle hosted us for dinner on Tuesday 16 April.  Indeed, I enjoyed getting to know the new Rector (Dr. Winterle) better this time around (most of last year he was in Mozambique).  Though the seminary finances are still dire, Drs. Winterle and Boehmer seem to be a good team as they attend to the daily operations of the seminary and live faithfully one day at a time.  The need for seminary accreditation is still pressing, although lately it seems as though the University of Pretoria is not as willing to form a partnership with the seminary as they once were.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Drs. Boehmer and Winterle, for their hospitality, and for the invitation to teach 1 Peter this time around.  This is my 11^th teaching trip to South Africa and every year it seems I know a little more than the previous year.  Indeed, I have just become the doctoral father of the Rev. John Nkambule, an instructor at LTS, and so shall mentor him in his studies over this next academic year (2019-2020).  Another couple that had me over to their place for wonderful German cuisine was Rev. and Mrs. Guenther Hohls, who was a pastor in the FELSISA until his retirement.  It is vital that the LCMS continue to support LTS with our offerings and prayers, even as we respond to dramatic requests for assistance elsewhere.  I welcome this opportunity to have served the Lord and his church by teaching at LTS in April 2019 and hope, by God’s grace, to return to teach next year in April or May.

Sincerely,

Dr. John G. Nordling

Professor of Exegetical Theology

Concordia Theological Seminary

6600 N. Clinton Street

Fort Wayne, IN 46815

USA

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The ladies who attended hailed from Ermelo, Middleburg, Piet Retief, Pongola, and Pretoria. A number of church bodies were represented at the seminar – St Peter’s Confessional Lutheran Church (CLC), the Lutheran Church of Southern Africa (LCSA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa (ELCSA), as well as the LTS community itself.

The LTS is grateful to Dcs. Rao for her selfless service and for her generous gifts of Lutheran Service Books, additions to the library inventory, and training materials.

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